Don't Phunk With My Heart
by yamarik
Summary: Deku wakes up with a hangover in the worst possible place. Now he's in fear for his life. Meanwhile, Kacchan just wants to return Deku's train pass...


Midoriya Izuku, known to his friends as Deku, did not wake up peacefully that day. He woke up with a throbbing in his head and a feeling like his mouth was full of sand. Was this the work of some villain?

Deku tried to remember if he'd fought anyone before losing consciousness, but it was no good. His memories were just too fuzzy right now, and his head hurt too much, and he needed to use the bathroom but his head hurt and he didn't want to move. Maybe he should just go back to sleep.

Ah. That was it. He remembered now. At work, they'd managed to stop a really dangerous villain and had gone out to celebrate. The hero he was working under had been pouring drinks, and kept pouring for everyone long after Deku would have liked to have stopped. But he could hardly say no when it was a full-fledged pro hero pouring for him, could he? And then…

He must have drunk way too much, because he didn't really remember after that. It would explain the headache though, and the dry mouth, and the need to pee. He should really do that.

With a groan that he instantly regretted because it made his head throb worse, Deku pushed himself upright. However, when he did, his hand found something warm. Startled, he looked over to see what it was, and had to stop himself from screaming.

"How on earth did this happen?" Deku gasped, shoving himself away from the person who he had been lying next to. The sudden motion caused a wave of nausea, and he moaned. His moan was echoed by the other person.

"Hnn, morning already?" Deku's childhood friend and high school rival Bakugou Katsuki, known as Kacchan, rasped. He squinted blearily at Deku, who froze, terrified of what Kacchan would do to him if he found that Deku had slept next to him while drunk.

"Ah, guess not. If you're here then I must be dreaming still. Right, Deku?"

Deku didn't know what to say. Maybe he should pretend that Kacchan was dreaming and make his escape. But no, what if he did that and Kacchan realized he'd been tricked- Kacchan would be furious. But wouldn't Kacchan be just as furious if he admitted to being real? Still, lying to Kacchan seemed like a bad idea.

"Um, y-you're not dreaming, Kacchan. I'm really here. I'm really sorry about all this!"

"Yeah right. There's no way you'd really be here, Deku. I know that. It's just a dream, like always."

"Like always? Do you mean you dream about me often?" Deku asked, curious. Kacchan pushed himself up with a small laugh.

"You should know that already. I dream about you all the time. I just wish I could talk to the real you half as well as I talk to dream you."

"Ah, is that so? B-but you know, I really am the real-"

"Don't be silly. I'll prove that you can't be real. Real Deku would never let me do this." And with that, Kacchan leaned over and kissed Deku.

Deku was completely shocked. What was going on here? Was this some sort of joke? After getting drunk had he encountered a villain after all and this was all some sort of hallucination caused by them?

"See. Just a dream," Kacchan said, and lay back down. Within seconds his breathing slowed, and he was asleep again.

Deku stayed perfectly still. He thought it would be best to wait at least half an hour for Kacchan to be truly asleep, but after ten minutes his bursting bladder demanded he go empty it. Trying to be quick because he wanted to get out of there but also quiet so as not to wake Kacchan and slow so as not to make himself throw up, Deku gathered his things and let himself out of the strange apartment he was in. He would go home, and shower, and then he would pretend this had never happened. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, since he and Kacchan worked at different hero agencies, it wasn't like they saw each other all that often.

x

Kacchan woke up with a terrible hangover, and spent about ten minutes puking into the toilet. Damn that Kirishima. This was all his fault. That guy had invited him to go drinking last night by showing up at his place and dragging him out whether he liked it or not. And then there had been some sort of bet, hadn't there? No, not a bet. They'd just been making fun of him for not drinking much, saying he probably couldn't handle his alcohol. Leading him around by the nose, as Deku would say.

Ah Deku. He'd dreamt of Deku again last night. One of the ones where they talked a bit. What had they said? Oh yeah, Deku had been insisting it wasn't a dream. Kacchan laughed bitterly. As if.

Kacchan's phone rang at an ear-splitting volume. Which was to say, it was a normal volume, but with Kacchan's hangover, it was sheer torture. He answered it just to make it shut up.

"What?" he growled.

"Bakugou. Finally! I've been calling for ages. I was beginning to think you were in a coma or dead or something." Kirishima.

"Oy, you jerk. I have the worst hangover because of you. I told you I didn't want to go drinking so why did you have to drag me out like that?"

"Sorry, sorry. I just thought you probably never go out on your own and knowing you, you probably haven't made any work friends even though it's been almost a year, right? And besides, you seemed like you were having fun."

Kacchan was only half listening. He'd just noticed his train pass on the floor. The room spun as he bent over and picked it up. Maybe it was his hangover, or maybe it was an omen. Because the name on the train pass wasn't his. It was Midoriya Izuku. How had it ended up here?

"Anyway, I just wanted to call and check up on the two of you, since you guys were so drunk," Kirishima finished.

"T-two?" Kacchan cursed himself for stuttering. He wasn't the type to do that!

"Yeah, you and Midoriya. Don't tell me you don't remember. Although, I guess it wouldn't be that odd. I mean, you did pass out on the way back to your place. Good thing Shouji had agreed to come as sober cab because no one else would have been able to carry both you and Midoriya."

"Why didn't you just take Deku home?"

"We don't know where he lives."

"And why did you make him stay with me?"

"Well after the way you two made out we thought-"

Oh no. Had he really done that? Actually, yes, he could kinda remember now, albeit fuzzily. He'd run into Deku on the way to the toilet and had brought Deku back with him to the guys he'd been drinking with, and somehow things had led to kissing. He really hoped Deku wouldn't remember that. Deku would probably be so ashamed. Or worse, he would hate Kacchan. Not that Kacchan could blame him. Being drunk was no excuse for selfishly acting on his impulses like that.

"Thanks Kirishima, I'm fine. Deku already left," Kacchan said, interrupting whatever Kirishima had been saying, and hung up. He'd made a big mistake.

After a night like that, he supposed it was no wonder he'd dreamed of Deku.

Except Deku had insisted it wasn't a dream.

And Deku had really been there.

Shit.

He'd been awake, hadn't he? And Deku had too. Meaning Deku would almost certainly remember that. He'd remember Kacchan admitting he dreamed of him, and he'd remember Kacchan kissing him. A kiss he almost definitely hadn't wanted.

Kacchan really was the worst, wasn't he?

x

It took a lot of painkillers to kill the headache. Things were just starting to calm down in Deku's brain when someone started pounding on the door, threatening to bring back the agony Deku had tried so hard to fend off.

"Deku-kun! Deku-kuuun!" Uraraka's voice called as Deku stumbled over to his door to open it.

"Uraraka-san. What brings you here?" Deku asked as he let her in.

"Deku-kun, it's terrible!"

"What is?"

"Toru-chan sent me this!" Uraraka said, and shoved her phone in Deku's face. A video was open. He could see the back of a person whose blonde hedgehog-hair meant it could only be Kacchan. Deku took the phone and pushed play on the video.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to film this?" a voice crackled over the speaker.

"Are you kidding? This is hilarious. Bakugou's going to flip when he sees this tomorrow," another voice replied.

"I think that's what Sero's worried about Monoma. Why are you even here, anyway?" a third voice said, slurring slightly.

"You invited Tetsutetsu, and he invited me, you rockhead. I had nothing better to do, so I decided to roll with it, and good thing too, or else I would have missed out on this entertainment." As the second person spoke again, the camera zoomed in. It shook a little as the person holding it began to walk around the side of Kacchan so the viewer could see what he was doing. And what he was doing was wrapping himself around another person. The lighting was bad, so it was hard to see who it was, but Deku got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"That's you, isn't it, Deku-kun?" Uraraka asked, watching Deku's face intently.

"I- I don't know," Deku stammered, feeling both a blush and a chill creep up his neck. That thing this morning had been bad enough, but if Kacchan saw this video then he would surely come an exact revenge on everyone involved, starting with Deku.

On the screen, several arms appeared and Shouji stepped between the two people, blocking whoever Kacchan had been kissing from view. A red-faced Kacchan protested and tried to push past Shouji before falling over. The video ended to raucous laughter.

"Um, Uraraka-san, where did you get this?" Deku asked.

"Toru-chan. She sent it to me because she thought that it might be you there, and she got it from Ojiro-san, who got it from Monoma-san who filmed it and sent it to a bunch of people from back at UA."

"H-how many people?" Deku asked alarmed.

"Hm, I don't really know. But I did get a text from Tsuyu-chan asking if I'd seen it…"

Deku returned Uraraka's phone and pulled out his own. It was on silent, so he hadn't noticed the multitude of texts there. Some were from colleagues at work, asking where he'd gone last night and had he made it home okay, but far too many were from classmates. Most just asked if he'd heard Bakugo had drunkenly made out with someone, but Iida, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Aoyama, and Tsuyu-chan all identified him as the person Kacchan had been with. Tsuyu-chan and Tokoyami both asked what had happened and if he was okay, but Yaoyorozu's text informed him that his taste was in his mouth, Todoroki's text called him disgusting, and Iida's lengthy text informed him that while Iida did not generally approve of homosexuality, he would try and accept it for such a good friend as Deku was, however Bakugou was by no means a suitable partner and so he was opposed to that particular relationship, and if necessary, Iida would help him compile a list of decent mates. The worst was Aoyama's encouraging "Good job!" text.

"Deku-kun?" Uraraka asked, and Deku realized he was crouched over and hugging himself as he looked at his phone.

"U-u-u-Uraraka-san, what do I do? I was drunk and don't remember last night and Kacchan's going to be so mad!" Deku wailed. Tears poured from his eyes. After three years under All Might's guidance, he had thought he'd broken his habit of crying so much, and hadn't even cried once since graduation day, but here it was again.

"But it's not like you see him ever, since you guys work for different agencies, right?" Uraraka said, trying to cheer him up but clearly being just as aware as he was of the danger he was in if Kacchan found out it was probably Deku in the video.

"Yeah," Deku replied halfheartedly.

"Well if you're feeling down, maybe you should go see All Might," Uraraka suggested. "I talked to him the other day and he said he thought you were ignoring him. He seemed kinda lonely because of it."

"I'm not ignoring him! I just can't keep depending on him forever," Deku insisted.

"Still, you should go see him. I'll go with you if you want. But not today. I have work in a little bit. I actually just stopped by to check on you."

"Work? Oh no! I'm going to be late!" Deku exclaimed, and rushed to grab everything he would need for work. Uraraka called out a goodbye and excused herself, but Deku hardly heard. He already had his phone, but he needed to change, and where were his keys? Oh yeah, they were on the chair. Wallet? There, by the stove. Train pass?

Deku hopped around with one leg in the pants he'd been wearing while he tried to shove the other leg into his work clothes. Where had he left his train pass? Was it in the kitchen? No. Was it by the TV? No. In his bedroom? No. Maybe he'd left it in yesterday's clothes? He tripped as he made his way over to the dirty clothes from yesterday, and crawled the rest of the way over to filter through the laundry to see if he could find his train pass. It wasn't there.

At this rate, Deku would have to use One-for-All to get to work. He could manage it without hurting himself now, but that didn't mean he liked to use it unnecessarily. It was just so flashy, and the damage it could cause if he wasn't careful… On one occasion when he'd gone camping with some classmates back in high school, someone had thought it would be funny to scare him. He'd used his quirk, and the result of it was that the mountain they'd been camping at was now about fifty meters shorter than it had been before they'd camped there.

Still, there was no helping it. Deku had worked hard since he joined the agency, and had the good opinions of his superiors, but he was still too junior to risk being late. He finished changing and began to stretch.

Once his legs were stretched, Deku headed out the door. He locked it, and rushed towards the stairs. Just before he reached the stairs, someone came off of them, and he almost ran into them. He bowed and began spouting an apology, but then he looked up and saw the angry scowl of the worst possible person. He'd run into Kacchan.

x

Kacchan was not in the best of moods. After he'd hung up with Kirishima, he'd just had time to make himself some coffee when another call came from Kaminari, apologizing profusely for not stopping Monoma. When Kacchan had asked what Kaminari hadn't stopped Monoma from doing, he found out that apparently there was video of him making out with Deku. And according to Kaminari, Monoma had sent the video to everyone who had been there, as well as several others who had been at school with them. And if Kacchan knew the people he'd gone to school with at all, they would have shared it until everyone from the hero course at UA, and probably more than a few from the other class tracks as well, had seen it. Could things get any worse?

They did. Shortly after that Monoma called to gloat. Kacchan wouldn't have answered, but unfortunately Monoma was in his phone contacts as "Unimportant person 47." Most of Kacchan's phone contacts were like that. A few of the classmates he was closer to had actual names listed, while others were listed under defining characteristics, like "frog" for what's-her-name or "tape" for that one guy. But mostly people just remained as "Unimportant person" in his contacts, which made them a bit hard to differentiate.

After Monoma's call, Kacchan turned off his phone. He'd already gotten a few texts about the video, and he suspected more were coming. He didn't need this kind of bullshit.

Kacchan had the day off, so he took his time sipping his coffee. It helped with his hangover, but not nearly as much as he would have liked. He stared at Deku's train pass for a while, before finally sighing and turning his phone back on. Sure enough, there were tons of texts. He ignored them all, and found the contact "Glasses." He dialed, and got an immediate answer, but before he could say anything he was treated to an irritating lecture on what a scumbag he was. He already knew that he was a scumbag, but that didn't mean he needed that annoying Iida to tell him! He hung up and sighed. Who else would know Deku's address?

It took another four tries to get Deku's address. "Frog" didn't know it, "Zero Gravity" didn't answer, and "Half and Half" was as rude as always, but "Diaper Guy" was finally able to tell him where Deku lived. He just had to endure a solid ten minutes of being mocked before that damn Mineta would tell him. If it weren't for some anger management counseling that had been mandated during his second year of high school, he would have blown up half the block from the annoyances of the morning.

After getting Deku's address, Kacchan had headed off to return the train pass. Deku would probably need it soon. Plus he wanted to know how Deku was coping with all this. He had almost never seen Deku angry in all the years they'd known each other, but he wondered if maybe this would be enough to push Deku to that point. When he thought of Deku being angry at him, it made him nervous.

This was Kacchan's state of mind when he arrived at Deku's apartment building: annoyed from the morning's events and nervous about seeing Deku. This caused him to scowl a bit. Then as he exited the stairs, the sun hit his eyes, and with his hangover, it felt almost blinding, causing his scowl to deepen.

Kacchan didn't see who he bumped into, but then he heard the apologizing. That could only be Deku. He was about to say he was sorry about what all had happened and return the train pass when the apologizing stopped and Deku squeaked, and before he could say anything the building shook and Deku was gone, having used his quirk to run away.

Kacchan sighed. He knew he should just take the train pass and slide it under Deku's door. But he wanted to tell Deku he hadn't meant for last night to happen, and he was sorry about all the trouble it must be causing, and he wanted to say that face to face and the train pass gave him an excuse to meet Deku. Slowly, Kacchan turned around and walked back home. He'd give it to Deku next time.

x

Deku found himself lying to his coworkers and telling them he made it home without incident. It was a busy day, as more than a few of the others had chosen to call in sick because they were still feeling the effects of their hangovers too strongly. Deku knew at least three of them would have worse aftereffects due to their quirks, and he certainly didn't envy them.

In some ways, Deku was grateful to those who had called in sick, as being busy kept him from thinking too much about his situation. But work finished eventually, and even though Deku stayed late doing menial chores to keep busy for just a little longer, he found himself aimlessly heading home all too soon.

Once inside, Deku began to consider the circumstances. Kacchan was angry. That much was certain. Kacchan had already tracked him down once, at this apartment even, so maybe he should find somewhere else to stay. Or better yet, he should move, since Kacchan would probably stake this place out until he returned. But no, he'd decided he was done being afraid of Kacchan, and running away wouldn't solve anything, only delay the problem. Was there some way he could assuage Kacchan's anger without getting killed?

Worse, there was the fact that so many of Deku's friends knew about what had happened. He would be labelled as "the guy that Bakugou made out with," and would be seen as weak. Well, he was pretty weak. At least no one else knew about the way Kacchan had been when he'd thought he was dreaming. They would almost certainly tease Kacchan about it, and then Kacchan would explode.

Despite thinking about it and muttering for a solid half hour until his throat was sore and he needed water, Deku could not come up with a solution. Perhaps Uraraka was right and he should talk to All Might. He didn't feel like he could tell All Might about what had happened, but it would be good to talk to the teacher he looked up to so. Perhaps if he talked about things indirectly, he could still get advice.

Deku texted Uraraka that if she was free tomorrow he would like to go see All Might together after all. She texted back almost immediately that she was up for it.

x

Having failed to return the train pass, Kacchan decided the next course of action would be to talk to someone who was close to Deku but wouldn't know about what had happened in order to come up with another plan to approach Deku. In his opinion, he had two options: Deku's mom, or All Might. Deku's mom was nice enough, but Kacchan didn't really feel comfortable going and talking to her out of the blue. They barely knew each other, and if she found out what he'd done then she probably would throw him out right away. All Might on the other hand, was someone Kacchan grudgingly respected, and who felt about the same towards Kacchan. They acknowledged each others' strength but otherwise tended to avoid engaging each other in any way. All Might already knew that Kacchan wasn't always the best person, so would be less likely to be bothered by it if he somehow found out what had happened. Therefore, Kacchan would talk to All Might.

After returning to his apartment, Kacchan called All Might to find out when would be a good time to visit. All Might informed him that he had to teach in the afternoon, but if Kacchan stopped by at around ten in the morning he should be available to talk. Since Kacchan preferred to work in the evening, this suited him as well, and so they agreed that ten o'clock would work.

That night, Kacchan dreamed of Deku again. Only this time, Deku just glared at him while he apologized endlessly. He became out of breath, and paused to calm down, and then Deku suddenly attacked, using his own quirk against him and telling him to die. Kacchan woke up sweating. It was only three in the morning when he woke from the nightmare, but he was unable to go back to sleep. He rose with the sun and made himself some coffee. It was going to be a long day.

By eight thirty, Kacchan could not stay still, and decided to head over to UA already. It was early, he knew, but he felt like he'd go stir crazy if he waited any longer. He grabbed a jacket and headed out.

Kacchan was getting close to UA when he saw them: Uraraka and Deku. Kacchan knew he could go over and give Deku the train pass right now. He should. But Uraraka was there, and so it would be harder to apologize, and what if she, like Iida, got angry at him on Deku's behalf and treated him to a scalding lecture? Kacchan was proud of his general fearlessness, but in the face of this particular threat, he balked. Seeing the two of them go into the school, he decided to put off meeting All Might early and go… maybe he would go do some volunteer work. Yeah. He could clean up a park or something. It was uncharacteristic for him, but it wasn't like he was wearing his hero outfit so people might not recognize him.

Kacchan tried three different parks, and they were all spotless. Frustrated, he decided to instead go pick up a gift for All Might as a show of respect. Besides, weren't you supposed to bring a gift when visiting an old teacher? Yes? No? Whatever. He'd go get some cookies or something. Did All Might like sweets? Whatever. Kacchan went to the store and bought the first tin of cookies he found. It was only nine-thirty, so if he went to the school now he'd still be early. Oh well.

Kacchan meandered back to UA Academy and headed towards the teachers' lounge, wishing he'd asked to meet somewhere else instead because the teachers' lounge was not a place he really liked. Not to mention he didn't like the idea of any other teachers there seeing him come crawling to the long-reigning top hero like some pathetic wanna-be.

Kacchan was almost to the teachers' lounge when he turned a corner and there they were again: Deku and Uraraka. Crap. He'd forgotten they were the reason he'd decided to bide his time elsewhere for a bit. He scowled, cursing his bad luck.

Just then, Deku looked up and met his gaze and paled, and he knew Deku was going to run again.

x

Deku and Uraraka met bright and early. They both had work after lunch, and both happened to like mornings: the bright skies, the slow warming of the air, the singing of birds. They had breakfast together before heading over to their Alma Mater to see their former teacher.

All Might wasn't in the teachers' lounge when they arrived, but someone informed them that he had just gone to get some paper towels after spilling his tea, and so they waited for All Might to return. It didn't take long.

"Do not worry about the spilled tea, because I am here!" All Might said as he returned to the lounge. The other teachers present ignored him. Deku and Uraraka waved.

"Midoriya-shounen! Uraraka-shoujo! It's been a while!" All Might said. He made a point of not making a point of looking pointedly at Deku.

"Y-yeah. Sorry," Deku replied.

"Hi sensei!" Uraraka greeted cheerfully.

"What brings you here?" All Might asked as he mopped up his tea.

"Deku-kun was feeling down so I convinced him to come visit," Uraraka told him.

"Worry not, Midoriya-shounen, for-"

"For you are here?" Deku finished for All Might, smiling just a bit. He felt a bit bad about stealing his mentor's thunder, but All Might's smile only grew when he did. He knew it pleased All Might whenever he used any of the hero's trademark sayings.

"Exactly!" All Might said. Uraraka had been right. Deku was already starting to feel better.

They spent almost an hour chatting. They talked about work and about Uraraka's noisy neighbors and the bizarre behavior of Deku's landlord and other such nonsensical things. Deku decided he didn't need to bring up the issue with Kacchan at all, and let the subject lie. Thankfully, Uraraka did the same.

Eventually, Deku and Uraraka decided it was time to go. All Might told them it was just as well, as he had a prior appointment. They excused themselves, and headed down the hall.

Deku was just thanking Uraraka for suggesting the meeting with All Might, and for coming with him, when he looked up and saw Kacchan. What was Kacchan doing here? No, that much should be obvious with one look at Kacchan's face. He truly did intend to get revenge on Deku.

"Um, Uraraka-san, I have to go. Bye!" Deku said quickly, and turned and ran, powering up One-for-All a bit for extra speed to keep Kacchan from catching up to him with some explosive bursts.

Only when he was six blocks away from the school did he finally stop. Kacchan didn't seem to be following him. He'd gotten away. For now. But what was he going to do in the future?

x

Normally it was one of the faults of All Might's character that he was so generally exuberant, but today Kacchan appreciated it. All Might was so caught up in his own enthusiasm that he didn't notice that Kacchan was in a genuinely bad mood, and not just being his usual crotchety self. The teacher oohed and ahed over the tin of cookies Kacchan had brought, but eventually he asked the question Kacchan had been dreading: what was it Kacchan wanted to talk about.

"It's.. nothing really," Kacchan said. It wasn't a lie really. To All Might it would be nothing. But to Kacchan, this was a big deal. Which is why he could not say it so lightly.

"If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be here though, would you?" All Might asked. Drat. The old geezer was sharper than Kacchan had given him credit for.

"Okay, it's not nothing, but it's still not that big a deal. It's just… hypothetically speaking, if Deku were mad at you for something, and you wanted to apologize, but he kept walking away rather than letting you talk to him, what would you do?"

"Hmm. Perhaps you should write him a letter? Or maybe if you-"

"This is hypothetically speaking!" Kacchan insisted.

"Of course, of course. Sorry. But in such a situation, I think a letter might help, or if perhaps you asked a third party to help you meet and to mediate any making of amends."

A third party, huh? Except who could Kacchan ask in such a situation? If it was one of Deku's closer friends, they were probably on Deku's side 100% and wouldn't be willing to help him. If it was the guys he'd been drinking with, he couldn't really trust them, not to mention they'd probably make fun of him for it. And he didn't really want to get anyone else involved.

All Might, seeing that Kacchan would need some time to think about what had been said, changed the subject, asking about work. Not surprisingly, Kacchan gave a blunt reply, said that coming to see All Might had been a waste of time, and left.

Uraraka was waiting for Kacchan outside the school gates.

"Bakugou-kun," she called, waving, making it clear she was waiting for him.

"Uh, hi," Kacchan said, half expecting her to slap him on Deku's behalf.

"Um, could we talk?" Uraraka asked.

"Yeah. That's fine."

Uraraka didn't say anything more, so Kacchan sighed and took the lead.

"Look, if you want to chew me out about what happened with Deku the other night, it's not like I planned that, okay? It just sorta happened."

"Well Deku-kun is really worried about it."

"Of course he is. It'll probably be really inconvenient for him if people think he's gay."

"That's not what he's worried about. It's because it was you that he's so concerned."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that it must suck to have been kissed by me. When he stops running away from me, I'll make sure to apologize properly." This conversation was irritating. Kacchan turned to go, but Uraraka grabbed his arm.

"You want to apologize?"

"Of course I want to apologize! That was my fault, and I was wrong, so of course I'm going to apologize because it's probably causing a lot of trouble for him!"

"Ah. So that's how it is. Then why don't I help you?"

"You will?" Did All Might have some sort of pre-cognizance quirk? With Uraraka's help, Kacchan really could have her mediate like their teacher had suggested.

"Sure. I'm sure Deku-kun will appreciate it too. Let me talk to him and let him know that you're sorry."

"I want to do the apologizing myself. Face-to-face. I owe him that much. Asking you to apologize for me would be a coward's choice."

"Then, I'll see if he can meet you tomorrow, how about that?"

"Will you be there too? I'd rather things be private but he keeps running away from me. Maybe if someone else is there he'll actually stay long enough to hear what I have to say."

"Okay. Let's try nine o'clock."

"Ugh. That's early. Fine. Nine o'clock."

x

It was nearly impossible to concentrate on work when Deku kept expecting Kacchan to show up. He spent the entire afternoon looking over his shoulder, and once he alarmed a colleague he was patrolling with when he jumped over a building after being startled because he'd seen a blonde head that he'd thought might be Kacchan.

Deku knew this couldn't go on. He needed to find some way to settle things with Kacchan, because he couldn't keep going like this. The problem was how.

Uraraka called shortly after Deku finished work to ask if he could meet again the next morning to talk. She seemed to think she had a solution for his problem. Deku readily agreed, because the sooner these circumstances ended, the better.

That night, Deku dreamt of the morning he'd woken up in Kacchan's apartment. He actually dreamt it several times, replaying what had happened in every possible way imaginable: versions where Kacchan realized he was awake and got angry, versions where Kacchan realized he was awake and didn't care, versions where Kacchan didn't stop with just one kiss, versions where Deku kissed Kacchan back, versions where Deku ended up in tears, versions where Kacchan ended up the one who was crying, version where both of them broke down together. By the time morning came, Deku could no longer be certain which of the dreams disturbed him most, but he felt like maybe it was every single one of them.

Deku was no longer feeling so great about whatever it was Uraraka might suggest, and when they actually met and she told him her idea, he lost all confidence in it.

"You really think this is something we can just talk out?" Deku asked.

"Yes, I think it is, and in fact, I think it's something the two of you NEED to talk out!" Uraraka insisted.

"It's completely impossible. Besides, he's furious with me."

"No he's not. I talked to him yesterday and he said he wanted to meet. In fact, he should be getting here any moment now."

"What? K-Kacchan's coming here?" Deku squeaked. He felt his soul leaving his body behind at the very thought of facing Kacchan right now.

"Yeah."

"I'm dead. I'm so very, very dead."

"You are not. Just listen to what he has to say. I'll be right here with you the whole time."

"But-"

"Uh, hi. Deku," Kacchan's voice said from just behind Deku. Slowly, in a rather jerky fashion since his body didn't seem to want to obey him just now, Deku turned around. Kacchan was standing just a few feet away. He didn't look angry. He looked… not at all like Kacchan. His usual swagger was gone, his confidence replaced by self-consciousness. His sneer was missing, and his piercing gaze was averted in uncertainty. And most of all, he looked tired, and almost haunted.

If Deku had seen Kacchan like this yesterday, he would not have recognized the person in front of him. It was just too alien. But after the dreams of last night, the Kacchan in front of him was just a little too familiar. It was disturbing to see a Kacchan so similar to the one in his dreams, and it was more than Deku could handle at the moment. For the third time, he ran away.

x

Sleep had been impossible. That meant he was running on only a couple hours of sleep that had been more than 24 hours ago. But there was no way Kacchan could sleep with the prospect of talking things over with Deku in the morning.

Instead, Kacchan spent all night practicing what to say. He prepared speech after speech of what he wanted to tell Deku, until all the words seemed to run together and lose all meaning. After that, he gave up and worked out a bit to pass the time. Then he cleaned a bit to pass some more time. Then he spent almost an hour looking in the mirror, trying to figure out what sort of expression he should have when he saw Deku. He tried to smile, but with his reddened eyes from lack of sleep, it only looked sinister. Then again, even when he was well-rested, Deku would probably still find his smile sinister.

Finally, it was time to go meet them. Uraraka had texted him that she would meet Deku 15 minutes early so she could prepare Deku. He just hoped 15 minutes would be enough. From what he'd seen in the last few days, Deku would need years of preparation before he was ready to face Kacchan.

When he arrived at the cafe where he was supposed to be meeting Deku and Uraraka, he found them immediately. As he approached, he could hear Deku already working himself into a panic. Not good. Maybe if he interrupted before Deku could worry himself too much-

No dice. As soon as Deku saw him Kacchan, he went white as a sheet. He remained frozen for a moment, and then once again he bolted.

"Oy, Deku!" Kacchan shouted. This was going too far. Enough was enough already.

"Gravity girl. Would you mind lending me your power for a bit?" Kacchan asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm rooting for you," Uraraka said, and hit him on the shoulder. Kacchan felt himself get lighter.

"Release it in 30 seconds, please," Kacchan told her, and lunged forward, careful not to get too much upward momentum as he activated his own quirk to give chase. Deku's quirk may have granted him speed, but it would be hard for him to get enough speed to outrun an explosion-propelled weightless Kacchan.

Thirty seconds turned out to be the perfect amount of time. Kacchan had just caught up to Deku and was trying to maneuver over him in order to get in front of him when gravity took hold of him again, causing him to fall right onto Deku, sending them both tumbling.

As Kacchan rolled to his feet, he could see Deku already starting to crawl away. Was he really that awful? Did Deku hate him that much? Couldn't Deku see that he wanted to change, was trying to change, had been trying to change for a while now? Angry, Kacchan grabbed Deku and hauled him upright, holding onto a fistful of Deku's shirt to keep him from running away yet again.

"Will you stop running away from me already?" Kacchan shouted angrily. He saw Deku cringe. This was not going the way he'd planned at all. He needed to remember all the things he'd practiced saying. He needed to calm down. He needed to-

He needed to vent all this frustration and right now Deku was the only one he could let it out on.

"I just want to say I'm sorry, damnit! I'm sorry I kissed you without asking if it was okay. I'm sorry I upset you. I'm sorry this has been a bother for you. I'm sorry that I was drunk, because now I can't even remember what it was like to-" That was not where he meant to take this. Time to reroute. "I'm sorry those guys left you at my place, and sorry you forgot your stupid train pass, and I'm sorry for liking you, you damn nerd!"

For the past few days, Kacchan had been wishing, for the first time in his life, that he had a different quirk. He had been wishing for one that would allow him to turn back time and undo his drunken behavior. But that was nothing compared to now. That wish to rewrite what had happened the other night was just a drop of water compared to the vast ocean he could fill with his current wish to undo the confession he'd just shouted in the middle of a busy street. Crap.

x

Deku had thought he was almost far enough to be safe when he had been knocked over. He'd tried to crawl away and regain his feet, but then someone had grabbed ahold of him and he found himself looking into the face of an irate Kacchan.

And then Kacchan had yelled about wanting to apologize. Deku was just trying to process the fact that Kacchan really wasn't trying to exact revenge on him when he saw Kacchan's face go from red with anger to completely ashen. Deku blinked, wondering what was wrong- was there perhaps a dangerous villain behind him? And then his brain kicked in he and realized Kacchan had just confessed.

That was about the time Kacchan released him abruptly, and Deku crumpled to the ground. Kacchan hurried away, but after a few steps, stopped, turned around, pulled something out of his pocket and shoved it at Deku's chest. Deku had just been starting to get up, and was put off balance again and fell back over. He stared after Kacchan, watching as this time Kacchan was the one activating his quirk to run away. Deku wondered if he should go after him, but…

"Deku-kuuuun!" Uraraka called, and he saw her jogging towards him. He finally noticed what it was that Kacchan had shoved at him: his train pass. He became aware of the people on the street around him, and their whispers and stares.

"Sorry, Deku," Uraraka panted as she reached him. "I know I said I'd be with you but you ran away so fast there was no way I could catch up. Did Bakugou-kun apologize?"

"Uh, y-yeah…" Deku said.

"Then is everything okay now?"

"Uh, I don't- no, not really. At least, I don't think so."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Uraraka-san, I think Kacchan just confessed to me."

"Eh?!"

"I don't know what to- Did you know about this?"

"No way! Not at all!"

No, of course Uraraka hadn't know. But Deku had, deep down. How could he not have, after the other morning? He just hadn't wanted to acknowledge those feelings. Probably because he had no idea how to respond.

x

After his impromptu confession, Kacchan didn't feel like he could face anyone. How could he have been so stupid? He knew Deku didn't return his feelings. And the whole point of apologizing to Deku had been meant to ease Deku's concerns a little, not add to them. There was no way Deku would ever forgive him. It was over. His first love was a complete and total disaster. Maybe he should look for work with a hero agency abroad. Or maybe just the farthest city in Japan he could find, since he wasn't really fluent in any language but Japanese.

On the third day after the confession, Kacchan still had yet to leave his apartment. He was getting low on food, but he just wasn't ready to go out yet. Not to mention he kept randomly crying. It was bad enough to be seen in public after his outburst the other day, but to be seen in public with puffy eyes, or worse, while actually tearing up again, that was just too much.

Someone knocked on the door.

Maybe they'd go away.

They knocked again, and Kacchan felt the tears start up again. Why couldn't whoever it was just leave him alone to his misery? Kacchan buried himself under a blanket.

A key turned in the lock, and the door opened. The voice Kacchan most wanted to hear and most dreaded hearing called out "Sorry to intrude."

Kacchan heard the door close, and a moment later footsteps.

"Kacchan? I borrowed a key from your landlord. He was worried since he said you haven't come out in a while, and Kirishima-kun says you haven't been answering your phone and I went to your work and your senpai said you haven't been there in days."

Kacchan wished desperately for Deku to go away. But the footsteps only got closer, and then they stopped right next to him. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Kacchan?"

"Go away," Kacchan sniffled.

"Um, Kacchan, I've been thinking a lot about what you said these last few days. That's actually the real reason I came here, though everyone really is worried about you. But anyway, after thinking about it, I have to say I'm sorry. I knew what you were feeling but I just ignored it and hoped it would go away because I didn't know how to feel. But I've thought about it some more now, and Kacchan, will you please stop hiding under that blanket? I really want to talk with you properly."

There was no way Kacchan was coming out from under the blanket. He didn't want Deku to see him cry. And of course he was going to cry getting rejected like this.

"Nee, Kacchan, do you remember? When we were kids, you were always so good at everything. We all really envied you. You had no weaknesses. Except for one. Do you remember what that was?"

What was Deku talking about? Did he mean how Kacchan was scared of mice? Had he brought a mouse with him? That was just too cruel, wasn't it?

And then Deku started tickling his feet. Kacchan squirmed, desperately trying to get away, and ended up kicking the blanket off. The moment the blanket was gone, the tickling stopped.

"You always were rather ticklish," Deku said.

"D-Deku. I- I- uh…" Kacchan couldn't find any words. What was there to say when he'd already said too much?

"I'm only going to say this once right now, so listen carefully," Deku said.

"I-I'm listening," Kacchan said, looking away. Because his gaze was averted like that, he never saw the kiss coming.

"Uwaa, this is so embarrassing," Deku said after pulling away.

"What the- what are you- I mean what- Deku, what is going on?"

"When I thought about it long enough, I realized that I like you too, Kacchan. You are an irreplaceable existence to me."

"B-but I-"

"Besides, the other morning when you thought you were dreaming, although it startled me a bit too much to truly enjoy it, that wasn't so bad."

"B-but you-"

"Kacchan, you said you dream about me. Well recently, I've been dreaming about you too."

"Deku…"

"Come on, Kacchan. Why don't you go wash your face and I'll go get something for us to eat. Are hamburgers okay with you?"

"Y-yeah."

Deku got up and headed towards the door. Kacchan was still stunned that Deku might like him back, but he realized there was one thing left to say.

"D-Deku!" Deku turned.

"Yeah?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"Yeah."

"I see," Kacchan said, and smiled for the first time in days.

"But Kacchan?"

"What?"

"Promise me neither of us will be drunk the next time we make out? Because you're right, it does suck not remembering how that was."

Kacchan blushed furiously as Deku headed out the door. Outside, he couldn't see that Deku was just as red as he was. The two of them had a long way to go. But at least they had finally reached their starting line


End file.
